Quality8 min read
CMM inspection: when it is needed and when it is not
What a coordinate measuring machine does well, what it costs in programming and time, and which characteristics are better checked another way.
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Sourcing notes for custom parts
Drawings, tooling, quality and landed cost, from the team that runs the programmes.
All guides, page 9
Browse the full library.
Quality10 min read
Hardness testing: methods, scales and drawing callouts
Rockwell, Vickers and Brinell measure different things at different scales. How to pick a method, write a callout and read a certificate without converting your way into trouble.
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Quality9 min read
How to set critical-to-quality dimensions
A method for choosing the few characteristics that decide whether a part works, then giving each one a tolerance, a method and an inspection record.
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Quality9 min read
Runout and concentricity: which control to use for a rotating part
Circular runout, total runout, coaxiality and the legacy concentricity call, and why the choice changes what the inspector can prove.
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Quality8 min read
Salt spray testing for plated parts: hours, method and interpretation
What a neutral salt spray cabinet measures, how to write the requirement and why the hours are a ranking rather than a service life.
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Quality9 min read
Flatness, straightness and parallelism: form versus orientation
Three controls that are often confused, and the simple question that separates them: is there a datum in the frame?
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Quality9 min read
Sampling plans: AQL, zero acceptance and the risk in between
How attribute sampling plans work, what an AQL promises and why a zero acceptance plan moves the risk instead of removing it.
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Quality10 min read
Tolerance stack-up analysis: worst case and statistical
How to build a dimension chain, calculate the worst case, apply the statistical method and decide which answer the assembly needs.
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Quality8 min read
Traceability and lot control: from raw material to shipment
How to define a lot, keep the identifiers readable through every process and prove the chain in both directions before a customer asks.
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Quality10 min read
Vision systems and optical inspection: speed, limits and false calls
A camera does not inspect a part; a camera, a lens, a light and a fixture do. How to set up optical inspection that finds real defects without drowning the line in false calls.
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Plastics9 min read
Multi-cavity mould first article checklist
A cavity by cavity sequence for proving a multi-cavity tool, from the run state and the sample plan to the spread across cavities and the records to keep.
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Quality8 min read
Change control for drawings and processes: revisions, approvals and cut-in
A practical route from change request to first new part, including the impact checks and the stock decisions most programmes leave until too late.
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Go from reading to checking
The guides are built around the same questions as the free tools. Size a busbar, check an ISO 2768 callout, build a first article report or compare landed cost.
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